Are You Challenging Me?
by Numbuh 212
Summary: Threatened by bullies on his first day of school, Wallabee Beetles receives help from an unlikely new ally. Oneshot, Number 74 of my 100 Theme Challenge


74. Are You Challenging Me?

"Well, boys, look at what we got here. A little preschooler must have wandered over to our playground by mistake. Waddya say we show him what happens to preschoolers who don't stay in their own playground?"

The other juvenile thugs grinned, snickering menacingly, and the large boy took a step towards Wallabee Beetles.

"Back off, ya cruddy bullies! I belong here just as much as you do. And for your information, I'm a first grader!"

"Ooh, a little tough guy, huh? Well, for _your_ information, twerp, we fifth graders_own_ this playground, and you don't get to play here unless we say so."

"Well, _I_ say that it's a free playground, and I can play on it if I want to!"

"Hah! Not if we decide you can't. You don't even belong here, anyway. What are you, Irish?"

"I'm _Australian_, you idiot! And if you think you can make me stay off this playground, then come and try it!"

"Well, if you insist." The five eleven-year-olds advanced menacingly on Wally, but he didn't even flinch. He held his fists up, scowling, apparently ready to take on all of them.

"Wait!" said another, decidedly British, voice. The newcomer stepped forward, flanked by a tubby boy in a pilot's cap and a dark-skinned girl with her hair pulled back in a long braid. "How about we even the odds a little?"

The biggest boy, who seemed to be the boss of the small group of miscreants, grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Fine by me. Four little twerps will be just as easy to pulverize as one. Get 'em, boys."

The bullies stepped up, expecting an easy fight. But to their surprise, the four first graders gave as good as they got, Wally included. After several minutes, the five older kids were thoroughly pounded and willing to stop fighting. "You haven't seen the last of us, you dumb babies!" called the leader as they stumbled away, but the younger kids paid no attention.

"You must be Wallabee," the British boy said, dusting off his sunglasses on the front of his red sweater. "I'm Nigel, and this is Abby and Hoagie." He nodded to the kids with him, and they smiled. "Moonbase told us you were coming, but we didn't know when until just yesterday. You've been training with the Australian Kids Next Door, right?"

"Yeah, so what? I've had enough training to be able to take care of those jerks all by myself. I didn't need your help." He turned to stomp off, then called back over his shoulder, "And it's Wally."

When he was gone, Abby turned to Nigel. "What was _that_ all about?"

Nigel shrugged. "We insulted his pride when we helped him, I guess."

"But he would have gotten creamed by those bullies if we hadn't helped," said Hoagie in confusion.

"I'll go talk to him later. For now, I believe there's one more person we need to track down. A girl named Kuki Sanban?"

oooo

Wally sat on the school steps, waiting for his dad to come and pick him up. He wished it was his mom that was coming – his dad was _always_ late – but she had to be at an appointment.

He heard someone sit down next to him, but he didn't look towards him. He knew it was that British kid who had butted in earlier and ruined his fight.

"What do you want?" he asked gruffly.

"I wanted to apologize for earlier," the other boy said smoothly. "I know that you could have handled those guys yourself, but you're supposed to start working with us in the treehouse today, and I didn't want you to be tired out."

"Well, I guess I'm sorry too," he muttered. "I, uh, shouldn't have been so angry."

"That's okay. So, are you coming over?"

"Eh, I guess. I have to wait 'til my dad gets here so I can ask him."

"Excellent. We'll see you there then. And don't worry, you'll have plenty of opportunities to beat up bad guys."

"Awesome."

The End

A/N: Have had this one sitting around waiting to be posted for ages, and beta-reading Super Reader's new fic finally reminded me to post it. I apologize for the lame fight scene skip, but I really suck at writing fight scenes. I don't even know where to start, so I figured you guys would rather read a paragraph of recap than three or four paragraphs of really sucky fighting. In my opinion, the only important parts of a fight are a) who won, and b) whether any received any possibly fatal/plot-important injuries.

Thanks for reading!

Numbuh 212


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